Happy 30th Birthday - 1st Anniversary

It is time of the year where I actually allow posting on my Facebook wall. (most of the time I disable it because people like to post funny things on my wall for some reasons) With advance technology like Facebook, we no longer forget people's birthday and I really appreciate it. It is not the motion of remembering my birthday but it is the motion that you took the time to write something that made me happy.

I didn't reply all the replies one by one because I really dunno what to say and I find saying thank you over and over a lil silly so I decided to write this post to thank everyone.

Thank you everyone for taking that time to post something on my wall, whatsapp or some even go the extra miles trying to catch up with me and sorry I am unable to meet everyone.

It is never easy to write a good birthday message to me, just like how you always attend weddings and stand at the entrance too long thinking what to write on the wedding guest card and still went back with 早生贵子...

So I would like to share a few that I thoughts was pretty funny! (Those that didn't get picked, please try again next year okay?)

Some of my friends took the chance to remind me i'm old. 

Some who knows how much I love to troll and things which doesn't makes much sense

And my favourite. Those that are blind

And of course, those that goes way back, those that brings back memories

old old friend but still kept up with me squating

yeah, my old skool online identity on IRC before becoming Smithankyou

Tagline I was given when I was at my 1st job

My intern

And of course those that went extra miles to buy me gifts, surprises and buying me gift that I requested. HAHA.

Surprise party after bball with wife, BBFF and new friend Jeremy Oh. 

Surprise gift from @Melpig

The best munckin ever.

Being 31 ain't exactly the hardest in many ways. By the age of 31 we have already opened a lot of hand cards. Although we always say that "it ain't over until it is over" so there's still a lot more to come but I would say it is much better than when we were 25 where everything was uncertain.

By this age I am blessed and lucky to say that I've already gotten quite a fair bit of things settled down. Not the biggest house but I got a roof over my head, not the biggest pay cheque but I have found a job and a career path that allows me to sleep soundly every night, not a victoria secret wife but this wife has got no secrets, might not be the most famous or popular guy in town but I know I have friends that I can count on when I need them and not the fastest car but my car comes with a loyal and beautiful driver so I guess I have nothing much to complain. I hope that using my birthday wish, everyone that I care for can find what they want in life and be happy as well. Not everyone is as blessed and as lucky as I am so I hope the best for everyone.

I guess the time we want to be young wild and free is over. So I was thinking about this and I thought I wanna share it here again.

But often enough, we still question our presence. What are we doing here on earth. What are we suppose to achieve. Who am I in an alternate universe?

Anyway, here's my current ear worm questioning about life.

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10 years worth of toilet material...

No thanks to Google new content policy about removing nudity and adult content, I had to give my blog a good check. The last I applied for Google Ad Sense and i was rejected for that and now, hearing this new policy ain't anything funny to me. Not being able to earn the dollar and having all these memories locked up is hell lot of a difference.

I mean I could start another blog but it will never be the same. Not just because of my SEO, or personal branding but it will just be something new, something which is not this one. You will understand this is you are a hoarder like me. It's almost like them rebooting Spider (again). Could be better but surely not the same.

Deleting blog post can be really tough for a hoarder like me. Some of those blog posts are dumb and silly but never the less they are my memories. Without the 1st 1,000 blog post, there will never be the blog post I am writing today. It is just like eating cookies. You can't just go to the 7th piece and feel full, you have to eat all the 7 pieces. Patience.

Anyway, while doing this whole spring cleaning thing, I realized that this blog has been around for 10 yrs! Omgosh... I didn't even noticed that. Everytime when people ask me about it and I just go "maybe 6 or 7 yrs." It's actually 10 freaking years!!!

10 years, that's how long my favourite TV show lasted. Which was more than 10 years ago. WHAT!

This 10 years hasn't always been a bed of roses. There are better months where I write more post and also better days that I get better clicks. Although I always say that this blog is nothing more than a hobby to me, I must say that this blog has brought me to places I could never had imagine.

It brought me to so many places like literally. Traveling, opened up so many doors of opportunities for me which includes meeting so many new and awesome people.

I mean, besides the fact that my written English kinda got better, I add more pictures, videos etc to my blog post, I still read a lot of consistency in my blog post from 10 yrs ago. The tone, how straight forward I was back then and now, how some principles of mine never changes. My believes in being passionate about things you do etc.

So that got me thinking, I went far with this shit but how long can I last. (That's what she said)

Here's a blog post for the 40 years old Smith. Oh God, 10 mores years and I will be 40 WHATTTT...

Dear 10 years later Smith, 

Congrats

If you are reading this, 1st thing 1st, Congrats that Google did not lock this freaking blog up on 23rd March 2015 for having adult content which youwe really do not have much to begin with. 

Next up, congrats that you are still alive. Despite the fact that you started driving and drives like a road rage. The fact that you are overweight and Burger king is still your favourite food. The weather is getting hotter and hotter year to year like how much cleavage the girls are showing and I'm surprised earth did not blow up just like that. And The Walking Dead (I hope you still remember this show.) did not happen in real life, we did not become a walker. 

How Are You?

Now we have gotten the whole congrats out of the way, let's get things straight. Being practical, I hope you are reading this is a nicer, bigger office with more staff working under you. You are driving (still with a legit license) a very awesome car which is so expensive but you do not mind paying for because you are richer than the car and I hope it's not a ferrari Taxi. 

Stay hungry and keep working for a better tomorrow! 

Newer Media?

Not too sure how much technology has advanced and if shit like blogging, Twitter, Instagram still means anything in the society now. I really hope they come out with a better way to measure KPIs for online influencers instead of just by pure numbers where we both know it's not exactly accurate. There's so many tips and tricks out there to spin these numbers. I hope you are still the same guy who is happy and always about having fun. I mean maybe a bit more mature at the age of 41 but still cool and hip. Writing stuff influencing younger writers and teaching them the ropes. Not about writing what is right or wrong but about doing what that gets people started. Start to think and be inspired. 

How are some of the bloggers we know? Are they still doing this? Or did they just fall off the radar? Did they become a sell out? Did Dash Dash take over Xiaxue's blog? Do you think I can still recongize how Dawn Yang look if you actually invented the time machine and send her 2025 picture to 2015? Is Mr Brown still relevant? What about your friends? Did yongwei slim down? Did Mint Leong become famous? Are people like Hpility, Renzze, Carrie, Nadia etc still in the scene? Do they still attend event or is event already a cliche? What about us? Did we win some other awards? Are you like some super blogger yet? Or are you just reading this because you remember this post? More importantly I hope you are not a sell out now. If you are, mid life crisis or not, stop that shit. 

Remember your own quote' "There's a lot of things that I can earn money from but there are only so little things that makes me happy." 

I would love to believe that Social Media and Mainstream media grew hand in hand without people asking "will social media take over mainstream" anymore and I am sure it is no longer still known as New Media. If they already used the word new media in 2008, what are they going to call the newer media if any in 2018? Contemporary Media? Modern Media? 

Media, TV, Sports and what not

I hope Jack Neo has stopped the whole Ah Boys to Men shit. If he did not it should be Ah Men to Uncle - ABTM 13. Right? I also hope Lakers are doing better now. I am very sure Kobe has retired by now. Did LeBron overtake MJ with 7 titles? Is Wiggins one of the greatest player now? Is he even playing at like LeBron or Kobe level? Did Durant win any titles at the end of the day? And did they legalize porn in Singapore? Do we have our own Playboy channel or magazine? Nude beach in Sentosa? 

Who is our leading party now? 

Family

How's Dad and Mum? Dad should be in his 80s and mum in her 70s. I sure hope they are doing well and living. And almost the impossible, if Ah Ma is around still she would be 112 years old. Seriously? How's Junjun, is she married? Is it Glen? How are the kids? Nat would be 18 and both Abby and Jordan would already be in teenage as well. Is Jordan a basketballer? What about Ted, Marshall and Brover? They are my greatest fear actually. I am not too sure if they can hang on that long. I know pets have to leave us one day but we can never be prepared for this day no matter how much we think about it. 

I mean besides 4D and ToTo numbers I guess these are pretty much some of the questions I have for the future as well as message I want to send. I hope I have written enough on this blogpost for you to read in 10years from now. If you have ever drifted too far away from who you really are now, I hope this blog post can bring you back to become who you truly are. 

Always be true to yourself no matter what. 

And of course, last but not least I hope you are reading this blog post with our wife Chris and probably your daughter or son. ;) 

Here's to us for keeping this blog alive for 20 yrs! (If you are reading this). CHEERS!!! 

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What is a lifestyle blog?

I've done many crazy things in my life. Wearing unicorn suit, taking wedding shoot at NTUC but those your already know. What you may not know is that I went till the extent of interviewing myself because I thought I am so cool and somebody should already have done that but didn't. I was just being pro-active.

Smith interviewing Smith

No shame on that.

Lucky for you guys is that besides this lame self-interview, I actually gotten myself a real interview by the press for winning the Singapore Blog Awards 2014 - Best Lifestyle Blog! 

What is a Lifestyle blog to me? You can read the full interview here!

So besides the English version, they actually managed to translate my response into mandarin and got it published onto yesterday's MyPaper! 

My future son or daughter is gonna be so proud of me. #JustSayin #WifeNotPregnant

If you noticed the journalist who did a good job translating it and find her name familiar, it is because she was the "female-lead" for my 1st online series "drama". Watch it here if you don't remember. 

The guys from OMY/SPH are really generous giving me so much attention. If you are into media buying and PR you will know how much media dollars I have earned. Just check these out. 

Omy.sg Facebook Page - 27k Likes

SBA FB Page 1,610 likes

OMY.SG Main Page Rotator. Average Page View - Above 4 Million

Blog.omy - Alexa Ranking top 300 sites in Singapore.

And also MyPaper average daily circulation of 250,000 copies! 

That's not all! I was also featured on GQ Magazine! 

Ok fine, this is fake. It's okay to dream right?

I really don't know how to express my happiness and gratitude besides saying thank you! Also maybe break into a song

Mr.Smith, Started from the bottom now I'm here.  

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Surprise Birthday Party - Outdoor Laser Tag Party.

Laser Tag with my close friends at my place? AWESOME! 

The Surprise

As much as I always complain about how "manly" my wife is when it comes to our relationship, she actually managed to give me the best surprise party ever! Nope, it's not a surprise blow job while I was driving.

Not this. Not this time at least.

It was LASER TAG! Why?

Because LASER TAG IS AWESOME! THAT'S WHY! 

It's my 30th birthday and I've never throw a party for myself. I'm kinda an asshole and at the same time a kinda blessed one. Year after year I will always have friends from different group celebrating my birthday with me over a good drink and food and typically it last for a week or sometimes even 2. So I told the wife one random day that I want to play LASER TAG like Barney does because it's AWESOME!

Little did I know was she went around and out of her way to gather my friends from different cliques and make it happen as a surprise. Me, being the detective always sense such things coming my way and my words to her is,

"If you wish to catch me off guard, it better be like say 2 - 3 months earlier"

I was wrong, all it took was for her to be 2 weeks early. To be honest I was really really surprised.  She just came back from Korea and it was supposed to be a very slow weekend. I asked if she wish to go anywhere this weekend and she was like "nah.. just slack at home" which is pretty much a typical reply from her and BOOM it happened. The best thing was we did not need to travel to the laser tag arena but the guys came to us with the equipment!

The guys from Adrenaline Tags showing up at my park as part of the surprise party!

The People

It's never easy to choose who to be at a party and who not to and especially when you are not doing this yourself. I guess it must really been a hard decision for the wife since I have many friends all over the place and it is never easy to get friend's friend to be part of a single party!

My baby sister and her bf Glen. Just have to continue to tradition of pulling her arms. One for you kor! 

My brud, DT and Weejeetable from the Handsome Man Club + WAG - Grace. Missing our leader Melvin and Gerald.

Old skool friend since secondary skool. Old but not forgotten despite the fact that our schedule is almost impossible for us to catch up these days but they made it here!!  Left to right, David, me Willis and Rondy.

One of my closest buddy over the years and I am sure one of the main reason why we are still friends is his tolerance over how I always scold him for being not too bright some times. HAHA. 

Of course, the woman behind this whole thing. Not the most romantic set up but it has to be one of the biggest stunt she ever pulled on me. AWESOME! 

The Game

I was already very excited but we have no choice but to pay attention to what the game master has to say.

The equipment was very new and clean. No vest was required, all we have to do is aim for the head set or the area around the rifle.

No exactly a very glam looking suit but LASER TAG SUIT UP!! 

We had a variety of games like team death match, sniper, taking over of base etc and it's actually pretty amazing how the park at my place was a very good arena. The amount of open area as well as cover was pretty balanced! 

I swear I thought I was behind the covers until I saw this picture. HAHA

This girl ah, didn't believe her hubby to be when he told her we were gonna play laser tag. She came in a dress and slippers but nevertheless she was pretty garang! She was like storming the front for the guys! 

I found the "flag" but a little too late. meh.  

Told you our park was pretty awesome. If you can picture it, you can see the amount of cover your can get from the exercise corner, plants and seats.

My sister the gamer all crazy. Have to give it to Keong, David and even myself. We were rolling all over the floor, proning position and all just to take a good shot. We were really competitive (some of us) and it would really be awesome if this laser tag thingy can give us stats like number of shots taken, made, kill, killed, hit by, who you hit, scoring, ranking. Damn I'm a sports fan for sure!

 "Guys, I'm not competitive like I need to win all the games but I just hate losing." - Smith

It was really quite an experience to be honest. Not only was the equipment pretty awesome but the game masters were pretty awesome and fun people too!

For some reason, I kept reading it as Game Over.

Thank You

I really had a very good time with these people and I sure hope they had a good time too! 

Bang bang bang! 

Keong really look damn irritating in this one. Profile pic worthy! 

Yeah, we just can't get enough of our crazy wedding photoshoot. HAHA. 

Anyway, once again I would like to thanks everyone for the participation, my wife for organising her hubby's birthday party as if it was her son's, and of course our neighbours for not complaining or calling the police because we were running around with "guns". 

For those of you who are interested, you can check out their website - http://adrenalinelasertag.com.sg/ or their Facebook page.

P.S: This is not a sponsored post. Mrs Smith paid for the Laser Tag games. TYVM.  

Mr.Smith, LASER TAG SUIT UP!!! PEW PEW PEW!

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